As Chancellor Blumenthal and EVC Galloway said in a campuswide message last Thursday, the University has been informed that United Auto Workers (UAW) union, representing teaching assistants on our campus, will hold a two-day strike throughout the UC system this Wednesday and Thursday, April 2-3.

At this time, we do not know how these strike activities will impact our campus. However, as we know from past experience, there is the possibility that access to the main campus may be impeded. We offer the following guidance to help you and your employees plan in advance:

Accessibility - Employees are expected to work their normal schedules on April 2-3. Please instruct your employees to check campus accessibility before they come to work. Information will be available via the campus home page (http://www.ucsc.edu), recorded on the campus communication hotline (459-INFO), provided to KZSC Radio (88.1 FM) for broadcast, and shared via the campus Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/ucsc). If access to the campus is not possible, further instructions to employees will be posted via these channels.

Work Flexibility - In order to minimize the number of people attempting to access the campus, employee requests to work from home or for an alternate work site may be considered and approved based on operational needs. We encourage you to be as flexible as possible when considering these requests from your employees.

Request for Vacation or Compensatory Time Off (CTO) - Managers and supervisors may approve advance requests to schedule vacation or CTO (overtime leave) in accordance with policy and labor agreements and as it is customarily administered within your unit/division. Employees requesting vacation or CTO due to concerns about their safety should be granted the time off.

Request for Sick Leave - Requests for sick leave should be handled in accordance with policy and labor agreements and as it is customarily administered within your unit/division. For example, if it is your normal practice to require a doctor’s note from an employee who calls in sick, then you may do so on this day. However, if you do not normally require a doctor’s note when an employee calls in sick, then you may not change your practice on a strike day. Be advised that a unit/division may be required to prove at a later date that its practice existed prior to the strike.

Request for Union Business Leave - Please forward the employee’s request to the Employee & Labor Relations office at 459-2017 or elrinfo@ucsc.edu.

Absence without Approval - If the campus is accessible and an employee is absent without advance approval to use vacation or compensatory time off and has not called in sick, then the day should be recorded as an unapproved absence and the employee’s pay will be adjusted in accordance with policy and labor agreements.

Recording Attendance - Employee attendance will be reported as normal through CruzPay and other time reporting practices. In order to assess the impact of the strike, we may ask supervisors or units to provide additional information on absences or cancelled classes for a report to the Office of the President.

Absence due to Inaccessibility - If the campus is officially determined to be inaccessible, the Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor may approve administrative leave with pay for those employees who are expected to work but are unable to access the workplace. Employees should not be encouraged to enter the campus to work nor should they be transported onto campus if it is deemed inaccessible by the Police Chief.

Health and Safety - It is important to ensure that your employees are advised that their safety is always the first priority. Employees should not be expected to jeopardize their safety in attempting to get to work if access to the campus is blocked. Please emphasize to your employees that they should follow the directions regarding campus access that will be communicated through the channels noted above.